One month! And I need Jesus

These babies are one month old today! We have survived so far! I will upload pics and more fun info soon but I didn't want the day to pass without Claiming the victory of the first month! Our kids love to play dinner games. We have a box of dinner games and conversation topics but they also love to come up with their own. The other night Catherine invented the "I need Jesus" game. Everyone takes turns telling about something in their life that they need Jesus to help Them with. The kids' were things like "I need Jesus when I want to hit someone" and "I need Jesus when I don't want to obey". Mine were "I need Jesus when I am really tired and impatient with children" and "I need Jesus when I want to think about myself more than others". Nothing like a good dinner confessional for the whole family! But I do need Jesus. Without him I'm not sure I would have made it through the past month.

I can't believe it!

I can't believe it but in a few more weeks Catherine will be starting the first grade!! How is that possible? I guess I thought she would be a preschooler forever! She picked out a new backpack and lunch box and is super excited. I feel totally unprepared though! Time to start the school season of our parenting careers I guess.

Is there anything cuter??

Is there anything cuter than sleeping babies???

They're pretty cute when they are awake too!

I am NOT supermom....I am thankful

Pretty much on a daily basis I have people telling me I'm supermom these days. I am definitely not!! I am a mom who fiercely loves her children and is doing the best that she can on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. But at the core, I am selfish and lazy and seek comfort and quiet and control.  I think that's one of the reasons God has blessed me with these 5 little ones--so He can sanctify me.

So if I'm not supermom, how do I do it? With lots and lots of help.

The past few months have required me to get over my desire to be self-sufficient and to rely heavily on others. It sounds like it would be easy to let other people help, but at times I find it very difficult. I think it's part of my desire for control. 

I am so thankful though for people God has placed in my life who are walking through this with us and are willing to be patient with me and our children and to help us all survive.

We have two wonderful young ladies from church, Anna and Rachel, who are here multiple times per week to help. They play with the big kids outside in the yard, take them swimming, do art projects, fix them meals, help with rest time, do my dishes, play games, and more. I am so very thankful for their enthusiasm and tender care of our children.

It has been a tremendous blessing to have Mimi and PopPop here. I can't even describe all the ways that they have helped us. Marcy came pretty much every morning the entire month of June and fixed breakfast for the kids when I couldn't walk in the mornings. They feed us dinner, give our kids baths, help with laundry, take our dog out, have the kids over for slumber parties, pick up things at the grocery store, watch the kids so Jay and I can go out on a date for an hour, and play and love on our kids like crazy. We keep telling them to let us know when they need a break! But they reassure us that this is one of the reasons they moved here and that they are so glad to be able to help. We are extremely thankful to have them here.

My family has also been so helpful. It's a little harder since they aren't in Greenville, but they have traveled back and forth multiple times in the past weeks to help with the big kids and to hold babies. They have kept the big kids for 2 and 3 days at a time to give us a little bit of a break. They bring us food and call to check on us and have been so encouraging.  We are really thankful that they are close enough to share in the joy of all of the chaos too!

I have friends (like these 2 lovely ladies) who have been extremely generous of the time and their homes to have our kids over for playdates, feed them lunch, and offer me so much encouragement.  They've been doing this for months now and hopefully soon I'll be able to return the favor and have their kids over to play! I am really thankful to have friends who know what I need without me even having to ask.

We also have a wonderful lady from our church who helps us with our laundry. We have members of our sunday school class/bible study/jay's work/neighbors who bring us meals. We also have a night nurse who is coming about twice a week to help us get a little extra rest at night. I am thankful for these extremely practical ways we've been helped.

And of course, I have a wonderful husband who is pretty much super-dad.  I am having to depend on him so much to help with the kids and household tasks that I normally handle. All while he works 11-12 hours a day too. He's pretty amazing and I surely couldn't do this without him. I am so thankful God gave me a husband who leads and serves our family.

So see, I am not supermom. I am an extremely blessed mom who has lots and lots of help and lots and lots to be thankful for.

Week One at Home

Our first week with the babies home went relatively smoothly. I had prepared myself for it to be total chaos and little people crying all the time, and that was only the case occasionally. If you set your expectations really low, then there's room to be pleasantly surprised at how well people are doing!!

The babies are doing what babies do--eating, sleeping, peeing, pooping, and sometimes crying. They like to be held and snuggled. They both like their swings and we are working on them lying in their crib for some naps and at night time. 

Who wouldn't want a welcome home like this?

The big kids made them each bears at Build-a-Bear. Each one has 3 hearts inside: one from Catherine, one from Will, and one from Anna.

It's been fun to start learning the differences in their personalities and what each little one likes, and kissing their chubby little cheeks.

Elizabeth is overall more laid back. She loves to be snuggled and as long as you feed her and burp her, she's relatively happy. She will just look around contently to check out what everyone else is doing. She is probably the "easiest" baby we have had.

James is our little old man. He looks around like "why are you people bothering me??" So far it's been easier to figure out what he doesn't like: He does not like to be hungry, have a dirty diaper, change his diaper, hear loud noises, or in general be disturbed. He prefers to nurse and be held by mommy :) He's just a little more sensitive to life right now and that's ok.

I love how excited the big 3 (this is now what I call them) have been to have our babies home. We spend a lot of our day taking turns holding them, and occasionally arguing over who held which baby longer. We may have to use a timer to keep things fair. Catherine and Will are great at holding them though and Anna wants to hold, snuggle, and kiss them too. Such lucky babies to have all of this sibling love!

James and Elizabeth got their big siblings some gifts to help keep them entertained while mommy feeds them. Fun activities like paint books, sticker books, water toys, a parachute man (will's favorite), and more.

Anna really likes to share with the babies. The other day she gave Elizabeth her baby doll to swing with. She also willingly shares her green blanket, which is Anna's prize possession. It's really sweet, although I do feel the need to wash that germy blanket a little more often before she puts it on their faces.

We do lots and lots of diaper changes. With two newborns and a toddler in diapers, there's always somebody who needs a diaper change.

See little man's grumpy face? It's adorable. I love it.

Happy one week babies! We're so glad you're here. It looks like they're still deciding what they think about us though.....!! They're just taking it in!

Babies Birth Day!

Our babies were born on June 29, 2012!

I was scheduled to be induced that morning at 6am. The babies must have decided that they really were ready to come that day because I went into labor around midnight.  Based off of how quickly my labor with Anna progressed, I didn't feel like we could sit around waiting for contractions to get stronger or closer together. So we headed to the hospital by 1am when my contractions were still 10-12 mins apart and really weren't more painful that what they had been for the past month.  The lady in the registration office seemed very confused about why I was there at 1am instead of 6am because I obviously did not appear to be having severe labor pains to her. So she called my doctor who said to definitely send me on back.

By 2-3am I had my Iv, antibiotics for Group B strep, and an epidural. This was way more progress than I made last time I was in labor. Again, I wasn't in terrible pain yet, but I had already dilated to 5cm and wanted to make sure everything was in place in case labor sped up quickly.

But that's not what happened. Instead labor slowed down after I got the epidural.  I kept having contractions every 5-8 mins but I couldn't feel them. Jay and I pretty much took a nap for a few hours, which was great because we hadn't slept at all that night.

By 6am I was at 8cm. At 8am I was still at 8cm. Around 8:30 my dr broke my water and gave me a little pitocin to speed things along, Right before 10am she said it was time to go to the OR for delivery. Even with a vaginal delivery, they deliver twins in the OR and have everything prepped for an emergency c-section. This was quite a different experience for me. So we headed down to the OR, along with 2 OBs, 3 anesthetists, and 3 or 4 nurses for me. Then about 8 nurses came in to be ready for the babies. It was quite crowded in there.

At 10:30am, baby James Lamar was born!! He was head down and a quick, normal vaginal delivery. I've been waiting on this baby boy for years and I couldn't believe he was finally here. He weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches long. We were a little surprised at his size, thinking he would have been more around 6 1/2 to 7 lbs. He was beautiful and healthy and great!!

 He was definitely born with his serious old man face and has continued to keep amusing us with his facial expressions.

Only 7 mins later, baby Elizabeth Leigh was born!! Her delivery was a little more complicated since she was breach. I'll spare you some of the details, but she was born feet first. She was holding one of her arms above her head and it got relatively stuck. It's not a good feeling when the first thing the Dr says after your baby is born is "We may have broken her arm." and calls for a NICU doctor.

Apparently the trauma of deliver also stunned her and she forgot she was supposed to breathe. It was a scary few mins of them checking her arm and giving her some breathing treatments. Within a few mins (which felt like forever) she started to cry. It took a good 10-15 mins for her color to start to turn pink instead of gray and for them to decide that her arm was only severely bruised. You can see the swelling and bruising on her shoulder in the 2nd pic below.

She weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long! We were really, really surprised at how large she was. Both the babies had measured within ounces of each other throughout the entire pregnancy and how she managed to gain a full pound in those last couple of weeks amazes me. I guess she really took advantage of all of my sitting and resting. But here she was--my beautiful surprise baby girl who I had secretly dreamed of for the past few years.

Finally after about 20-25 mins I was able to see her and hold her while Jay held James. It was quite surreal to actually see our two babies together after months and months of thinking about what this would be like. I definitely cried a little. We were so happy and relieved to have them here and get to know our two newest children. We are already absolutely in love with both of them.

I'll post more soon to let you know how life has been going since we got home and what we're figuring out about having twins!